Landon Donovan: USMNT and LA Galaxy Star to Retire at End of MLS Season

With the Homegrown Player match and All-Star match already having big news announced, the Los Angeles Galaxy’s Landon Donovan has announced the 2014 Major League Soccer season will be his last and that he will retire. Donovan has played for the Galaxy four different times, from 2005-2008, in 2009, from 2010-2011, and then finally from 2012 to 2014.

After careful deliberation, I have decided that this will be my last season as a professional soccer player https://t.co/UuxXkXlYi1

In his career, Donovan also played for the San Jose Earthquakes, Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern Munich, and Everton, twice. He has a career 340 appearances total since 2001, scoring 139 goals. Also, he has played for the United States Men’s National Team from 2001-2013, where he played in both the World Cup and Gold Cup. Donovan was also added to Head Coach Jurgen Klinsman’s preliminary 30 man roster for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, though he would eventually be left off when the final 23 man roster was chosen.

Donovan also assisted the Galaxy in three MLS cup titles and was named MLS’s All-Time Leading Scorer and CONCACAF Gold Cup MVP in 2013. Donovan is the leading all-time scorer for the Men’s National Team having scored 57 goals in his total 156 appearances. In 2010, he won Honda Player of the Year and US Soccer Male Athlete of the Year for a second time.

In his retirement, he has stated that he wants to continue to grow the sport of soccer in the United States and shape the continuation of the MLS stars with aspirations of joining the National Team, playing in the World Cup, and other National Team events for the United States. In an interview Donovan was quoted as saying “As we enter a transformative time for the sport, I will do everything I can to help the continued growth of soccer in the United States,” Donovan wrote. “I look forward to making a difference, pursuing my passions and meeting all of you along the way in this next phase of my life.”

Jasmine Stefanik is a soccer writer for Stoppage Time Soccer. Follow her on Twitter @pinkbutterflyy6, and like her page on Facebook.